Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-284) and index

The subjects, the doctors, and the experiments. "The money was good and the money was easy." / Inmates recall life and experiments at Holmesburg Prison -- "It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field." / Dr. Albert M. Kilgman enters Holmesburg -- Twentieth-century American penal experimentation. "They're dropping like flies out here." / History of U.S. prisoner experimentation -- Cruel and unusual experiments. "The walls seemed to be breathing." / The Army tests chemical warfare agents

"I am not part of the program." / Radioactive isotopes are introduced -- "Danger! This material is extremely toxic." / The dioxin experiments -- The end of experimentation at Holmesburg. "Where are we going to do these things now?" / The slow demise of inmate experimentation -- "Retin-A's birthplace was at Holmesburg Prison." / The discovery of Retin-A -- "A conspiracy of silence." / Conclusion

In this expose, Allen M. Hornblum tells the story of Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Holmesburg's inmates were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on in-depth interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as the doctors and prison officials who, respectively, performed and permitted these experimental tests, Hornblum paints a disturbing portrait of abuse, moral indifference, and greed. Central to this account are the millions of dollars many of America's leading drug and consumer goods companies made available for the eager doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of these doctors established their illustrious careers on the backs of the inmates who served as the ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars

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